Sudan Peace Talks: Welthungerhilfe Calls for Humanitarian Corridors
Famine in Sudan: "The international community must place increasing pressure on both parties to ensure reliable humanitarian access and must make more funding available for humanitarian aid," urges Mathias Mogge, the secretary general of Welthungerhilfe
Bonn/Berlin, August 13, 2024. Further peace talks between the conflict parties in Sudan are scheduled to be held tomorrow in Geneva. Welthungerhilfe urges both warring parties to finally agree to a viable solution to end the famine and the daily attacks on civilians and aid workers. For over a year, a bloody war has been destroying the livelihoods of millions of people as well as the country’s infrastructure.
“The world’s biggest humanitarian crisis is taking place in Sudan. More than 25 million people, or half of the country’s population, are in a critical nutrition situation, and 755,000 are in immediate danger of starvation. Furthermore, over 10 million people have been displaced within Sudan—more than in any other country.
It is urgently necessary to secure free and safe access to the affected people. We therefore call for humanitarian corridors to be established in the hardest-hit regions: Darfur, Kordofan, Al Jazirah, and Khartoum. Key border crossings must also be reopened to enable aid supplies to be brought in from Chad and South Sudan. Both conflict parties must cease military attacks on the civilian infrastructure necessary for people’s survival. The international community must place increasing pressure on both parties to ensure reliable humanitarian access and must make more funding available for humanitarian aid,” urges Mathias Mogge, the secretary general of Welthungerhilfe, speaking ahead of the peace talks.
In the coming days, Welthungerhilfe and the World Food Programme (WFP) will begin distributing more than 18,000 metric tons of food in North Darfur. Aiming to reach nearly 400,000 people, this urgently needed assistance is expected to save lives in the ZamZam camp and in other famine-stricken regions near El Fasher.
In addition to grains, legumes, oil, and salt, fortified nutritional supplements will be provided for children under five years of age and for pregnant or nursing women. Due to ongoing fighting and heavy rainfall, logistics present a major challenge, and the poor security situation frequently blocks the passage of aid.
Welthungerhilfe is one of the largest private aid organizations in Germany; it is politically independent and non-denominational. With courage and determination, it is striving for a world without hunger. Since it was founded on December 14, in 1962, 12,128 overseas projects in about 72 countries have been supported with 5.07 billion euros. Welthungerhilfe follows the principle of empowering people to help themselves to sustainably improve their living conditions, through approaches reaching from fast disaster relief to reconstruction and long-term development cooperation projects with national and international partner organizations.
